Pole Dancing: From the Origins to the Present

Contrary to popular belief, pole dancing didn’t start off with beautiful women dancing nakedly in a strip club with large groups of men carelessly throwing their hard earned money at them. In fact, pole dancing’s history can be traced back as far as the 12th century in India! Surprisingly, the first pole dancers were MEN. It’s actually a sport still practiced today called “Mallakhamb“. They would utilize a huge amount of athletic stamina, speed, and strength to perform on a wooden pole. It is also believed that there’s a form of pole dancing that started in some parts of Africa too.

In Chinese culture, there‘s a version of competitive pole dancing that use two poles instead of one. Performers take turns climbing and doing tricks between both of the poles. These poles can be as high as 20 feet and it takes a lot of practice and patience to perfectly master different pole techniques.

From the 19th century through the early 20th century, pole dancing became a traveling sideshow act at carnivals. People of Middle Eastern or Eastern European descent would go on tours across the U.S. to dance provactively for guests on a pole. They would also belly dance and perform rhythm gyrations. In the 1950s, pole dancing evolved from circus acts, to bars and burlesque clubs.

In the ‘60s, there was a massive sexual liberation movement for women! This started to change how society perceived women’s freedom when it came to making their own sexual and contraceptive choices. During this point in history, pole dancing began to have a lot more nudity, evolving as full on adult entertainment. There are still males that are strippers for certain audiences as well.

Moving forward into the ‘80s and ‘90s, strip clubs grew in popularity and by then most people only associated pole dancing with strippers into the 2020s.

For over 20 years now, pole dancing fitness classes started growing. Many women (and even some men) started learning how to work a pole. It’s a great form of exercise and again, does not have to be inherently sexual. It’s interesting to see it be seen as a legitimate art form that can be performed by almost anyone with hard work and endurance.

Right now there are pole dancing competitions that people enter to show off their athletic abilities. There’s both national and international pole dancing competitions and it’s becoming more and more widespread. Currently, there are efforts to bring pole dancing to the Olympics. It looks like we’re just gonna have to wait and see.

What are some things about the history of pole dancing that are new to you or that you wish to learn more about? Hit up our comment section below! do you have any experiences and or opinions on this art form?